Shattered nights
by dan-chan
Summary: In the moments between Darkness and Dawn, a desperate cry of the heart connects two souls. In that moment, a certain Gardevoir will begin a journey of understanding that will forever impact her life... Warning: Depictions of violence against children


A (rather) short one shot set in an early chapter.

It takes place 3 days after Rowan gets hurt, but deals with why Aria delved into his memories.

"spoken"

 _"Telepathic dialogue"_

 _Thought_

Beh took off again...

As I sat up in my living bed, I couldn't help but to feel annoyed. Beh Brown hair had been unreasonable again. He'd been passed out for a few days and it looked like he was coming to. However, when he opened his eyes, he freaked out, then took off.

Maybe it was my eyes? They do tend to shine at night. Especially when I am utilizing my psychic powers to change his bandages...

I hate blood. I really do. The mere sight of it makes me feel ill. Touching something that is bloody is even worse. Yet I endured that because this man who was so interested in me literally fell into my arms and suffered alone and silent as he began to feel something.

Yet, I couldn't tell if it was my presence or if it was because of the pain he was carrying. It might have even been because of some memory... I wish I could tell. It makes me feel so distraught to see him suffer but be unable to help him. I can't do anything until he is well enough to speak.

Today, as I was tending to him, the Matriarch confronted me about my obsession with his well being...

 _"Ses Aria kuh Rupicola,"_ She said in that commanding yet graceful tone I revered about her, _"It is time that we have discussed your curiosity and protective feelings for this Human..."_.

I swallowed in trepidation as she regarded him with a look of suspicion and curiosity. She had not forgotten that it was him that stayed the hand of that awful woman. The one who wished to hurt Ses Asa Mitt Robusta. Yet, despite that, she still felt offended that the man would play voyeur instead of coming forth to be civil and open with us. It said a lot, she reasoned, about his motivations.

 _"Yes Matriarch?"_ I asked nervously.

" _I assume that you feel a great attachment to him do you not?"_ She asked. 

" _His presence intriques me. He seeks to understand, but seems to be too shy to come forward. Like he is a young Kirlia that is afraid of getting hurt if he comes forward._

She gave a sympathetic nod. It was no secret that I had a bad habit of getting emotionally invested in others and seeking joy through them. However, that worked both ways... One of the reasons I was unmated was because the occasional Gallade from the higher Tet zes would seize upon that. In essence making the relationship entirely one sided. Or another Gardevoir would see me as simply a loyal girl who would make him feel good. Rare was it that there was someone who would give as freely as they would take...

" _You realize he is human do you not?"_ She asked.

" _Of course I do... "_ I replied uneasily.

I did not like where this was gong, but found myself powerless to let the admonition begin to carry its natural course.

 _"Then you realize that you must be certain to bond with him only if he gives as readily as you. I fear that you will not find someone who has attributes different than yourself, and I worry that you feel as if a human is easy to mold to suit what you need."_ She warned.

I hated to justify her suspicion with a remark. It would mean me allowing such throughts to enter my mind. I confess that the temptation was there... yet even if I wanted to... I could feel... some part of his Sic Tim calling to me. It was as if some smal part of him was Gardevoirian. Some element of his heart seemed to contain an awareness of the vast potentiality from which our emotions draw their potency.

Worried, I suggested as much to her..

" _He really does remind me of an immature version of us... like he has been waiting to be Gardevoir, but forgot how... then became afraid when he had a brief glimpse at what it is to be us once again..."_

The Matriarch seemed to recoil in surprise as I made such an abstract suggestion. However, the unease and worry that she felt when I said that melted as she then began to laugh lightly.

" _If he really was a Gardevoir who forgot how to be... it would certainly make for an interesting mate my dear..."_ She said, then brought a hand to her face, then rubbed her cheek whilst she considered my words. _"And what if he was?"_

I didn't answer, though my thoughts seemed to answer for me...

 _Then I will show him how to be one again..._

Her thoughts cut through more keenly than the words of our species ever could.

 _Do not ever force him to be what he is not._

I swalowed as that thought struck me in accordance with the navy blue tint the world had taken on. The perforation of her feelings about how I have been treating Beh and how I have gone the extra mile to get him to open up made me wonder if I was pushing him too hard.

I resolved that I would understand his human perspective on this situation... and help him to get through whatever demons keep driving him to cry out in his sleep...

Which brought me to tonight. It happened as I was changing his coverings. I had removed them, and fought the disgust at seeing such damage, when my hands gently caressed his ribs. It seemed to snap him awake. He suddenly grabbed at his chest, then freaked out, taking off into the woods away from both the Te Ze and his own te ka.

If there was one thing to be said about humans, despite their resillience, they were very noisy. I could hear him crashing through the woods even a full minute after he took off. Where he was loud and brash, I was agile, and graceful. As I ran at all due speed after him, my feet barely made the slightest noise as I danced and frolicked through the woods.

Was I chasing him because I wanted him to be my pet?  
Was I doing this because I felt something more for him?  
Was I just interested in him and would see him as little more than a friend?  
Or did... I want to be with him? 

I couldn't rule out that final thought... The idea of him sitting with us and being happy brought me to a level of Joy I had not felt since my first mate began courting me. It was the same level of pleasure I felt when I would show my sisters how to dance and how to make the moon fairly sing for us when we brought our emotional potentiality to create new feelings...

No... I wanted to actually have a give and take relationship with him. I wanted us to dance under the moon. To connect our hearts and bring life to the emotions, manifesting them through a bond... to find strength in an embrace and to Give strength in return.

I wanted to protect him... and I wanted him to protect me.

I think... as I chased him that night, I was falling in love with him. I think before that, I had stopped seeing him as being a potential new member of our Te Ze...

I think he was already in love with me at that point.

By the time I found him, he had fallen over onto the ground. His blood had seeped out and stained his clothing red. His desperation and confusion colored him a very pale yellow. Sickly even.

As I collapsed next to him, his eyes were unfocused and flicking about. He did not seem to be fully aware of himself nor his surroundings, for he was shaking terribly. His eyes never fully made contact with mine, nor did he really seem to acknowledge my presence.

Then he spoke.

"End it... I don't... Want this any more..."

I was struck confused by his plea.

His emotions were not of desperation... they were of terror. His fears were centered on one person, but they were not of me. They were not of his vile companion, and they were not of that vile dark type beast group that attacked him.

Simple terror overwhelmed me in that moment. His terror was my own. It connected the manifold attributes of our hearts and forced a connection between the two of us. In that moment, there was a sudden and forceful injection of flashes of thought into my own consciousness.

There was a silouette of a man in that moment of thought. He stood massive before Beh and seemed to be imposing. His hand came up, and I felt a residual snapping of pain course through my body. In that memory, I watched the world tumble out of control before my minds body came to a rest on the ground. The shock gave way to fear which gave way to a feeling of betrayal and despair. In desperation, I felt myself become hopeful that it was painful enough to make me unable to move.

But it wasn't.

Instead, the man spoke as he pulled me up.

"You weren't even mine... and yet she expects me to just love you... you take everything from me! I can't even have her look at me only without seeing you! Your presence taints her feelings for me!"

I felt myself being struck again, though this time I realized my tiny legs could barely support me as I went tottering back, then felt myself hit a table.

"Don't touch that!" the voice roared "That is not yours to touch you ungrateful little monster!"

Again, a hand struck me, and I felt myself fall to the ground. Reluctantly, my hands clutched at the ground, then began to push myself upwards. 

Then, I felt the blow to my chest land. 

The force sent me tumbling until I came to a rest on my back, looking up at the ceiling.

 _"End it... I don't... Want this any more..."_ I felt myself saying.

Instead of ending it, the figure looked down at me, then gave another kick to my ribs.

"You sicken me..."

As quickly as it began, the memory collapsed upon itself. I felt myself looking up into my own eyes from his eyes, then my eyes blinked rapidly and I was looking back down at Beh.

Was that... his childhood?

Terrified for him, I reached out, then gently clutched his hand with mine. My three fingers could barely get a full grasp on his hands, yet he seemed to clutch at them so strongly.

" _Is this why you came to us Beh? "_ I felt myself asking.

I received a blank look from him. A look that showed he did not comprehend just what I asked. I gave an annoyed sigh, then put my other hand around his head, then gently lifted it until it rested on my lap. The cut on his head was bleeding again, and seemed to fall from his head, then rolled off my gown like crimson drops of rain. The action seemed to calm him somewhat. A simple show of affection revealed that his heart sought for the comfort of someone who could at least see the world through his eyes but also who he could walk with and understand.

Whatever his past was... I had to make it end... I had to know what made him feel this way...

The dim sound of footsteps drew my attention to the approaching form of Aitsu

 _"Ses Aria, how is our human guest?"_

Tears spilled from my eyes as I met his crimson eyes. The waves of terror, confusion and worry seemed to speak for themselves as he did not pursue a further question. Instead, he looked at Behs body, then lifted him up using his psychokinesis abilities.

Behs arm that held my hand fell limply towards the earth and as I stood, I grabbed it nearly desperately.

" _Something in the moment of waking triggered a memory... his memory was tied to a strong feeling of terror that matched my terror at finding him laying on the ground just now covered with blood. I saw... something I didn't understand... him being beaten by a man older than him and him being called a monster..."_

Aitsu looked at the blood covering his body, then collected a small amount of it on his hand before placing it in his mouth. One of aitsus psychic abilities focused upon psychometry. His tasting blood allowed for him to detect infections. He was able to make a very intimate connection with the chemical composition, then establish if there is some virus or bacteria that is threatening others.

Oddly, he gave a confused look then proceeded to spit the blood out.

" _He tastes like us... not like a human..."_ He said in an uncertain tone.

 _"What do you mean?"_ I quickly asked.

However, instead of elaborating, Aitsu simply shook his head as he began moving Behs body back towards our Tet Ze.

 _"I think we shall understand fully in due time..."_ He said mysteriously.

Confused, I picked up a pace right behind him. However, the feeling of being seperated from Beh left me feeling very confused and uncertain, so I hurried up my steps until I was right by his suspended body, then took his hand in mine once again.

Again, his hand closed around mine and the feelings he had been experiencing came to let themselves be known. In his near catatonia, his emotions drifted from feelings of dejection to betrayal, then back to feeings of hopelessness. It was as if his mind was stuck in a loop of that exact moment. A moment that nothing internal seemed to shake him from.

As Beh was placed back into my living bed, an Idea came to my mind.

Aitsu tended to his bandages, though he added a crushed Oran berry extract to the leaves as well as concentrated Sitrus juice. I was not versed in the alchemy of medicine, so I did not understand why.

Aitsu seemed to pick up on my confusion as he turned to me then proceeded to clarify his actions.

" _He has lost a lost of blood, these juices not only accelerate his healing, but will incite his bone marrow to increase red blood cell production... "_ He gave a somewhat uncertain look before continuing " _I have a hunch that the effect will be especially potent given how his...blood tastes... please bear with me as this will be rather painful for your beh"_

There Aitsu went, talking about blood taste again... I was so confused by it that I had difficulty understanding just why that was important. Instead, I simply grasped Behs hand tighter as Aitsu began applying the gel and leaves to his injury.

Beh suddenly cried out in alarm and extreme pain. In a panic, I felt my psychic powers manifesting themselves. Tell tale ruby clouded my vision as my desire to keep him from bolting resulted in a sudden draining of his feeling into myself. His body began to go limp as I took on the emotional concordance that was triggering a temporary psychic reaction in myself.

The terror became elevated to the point why my body began to shake uncontrollably as every ounce of his pain seemed to become mine. I could not scream out though as the sheer pain left my body paralyzed. My throat fought to articulate his cry for him, but instead, silence was all that escaped.

From my core though, grew a new feeling. I felt it spread from my chest, then spread to my arm. It fed into his body, then seemed to encounter a pushback, then an alien sensation traced through our connected flesh into my body.

Again, it fed back from him. I... I knew this feeling.

Trace.

That is the word for the sensation when some attribute is being copied and assimilated into the self.

In shock, I felt my Crystalline core react, sending a pulse of warmth through my body, then into his once more. The entire time, Aitsu hurridly worked to replace the bandages as it was only a matter of time that the void I had momentarily left within beh would begin to manifest itself once more.

Yet, the sensation of trading feeling did not fade. For some reason, his trace began again, and I felt my synchonization timing the trace and seeming to function as a coherent heart beat. Was... his near death state desperately taking on Gardevorian attributes in an attempt to keep himself alive? Or was it something more?

Was I doing this to him? Was I desperately trying to make him something more to get him away from the cause of whatever nightmarish memory kept his mind from feeling at ease? Or was it something he was doing intentionally?

I felt panic fade to confusion as his pain began to ebb from my body and I was left with a momentarily hollow feeling. I realized that for a brief moment, I was not taking on his pain, rather, I was feeling his pain for him, as if I were momentarily in his body and he in mine...

" _-ry Gardevorian..."_ Came the sound of Aitsus voice, as if from the bottom of a well.

Instantly, my awareness snapped back into the present moment. The world seemed to coalesce into a concrete conglomeration of emotions and visual representations before I began to feel the outside world again. I became aware of how hot I felt despite the cool air. I was aware of the retracting ruby sensation before my eyes and the feeling of relief flooding me.

My body sagged under my own weight as I felt exhausted from that moment.

Yet...

 _"I want to... see his dreams... I wish to use my hypnosis to see his dreams and understand him..._ " I suddenly declared.

Aitsu looked at me, then proceeded to sigh in resignation.

 _"After that moment, I cannot say I am surprised..._ " He responded, " _Fine, if Ses Aria wishes to deepen her bond with this human and allow the possibility of mating, I will allow you to intrude into his mind... but be aware, his manifold thoughts need guidance for you to succeed. You know full well not to intrude into memories he dares not show you..."_

 _"I understand..."_

A/N

This story I did up more as a prelude, getting into a more Gardevoirian frame of mind and also giving a little insight into what prompted Aria to delve into Rowans dreams between the chapter of his attack and him awakening. This chapter also provides context for the next chapter, which after a series of revisions, forgetfulness, and an outright rewrite to include a final version of why Rowan had changed, is due to be typed up within a week or so. I had not forgotten this story. Rather, I needed to get my focus elsewhere for a while, then allow the development of the characters to take place through a number of practice writing schemes. Rowans is rather simple, but Aria as a character, and her more elaborate works, actually needed to be worked on with a few friends from a period of December until May. There was much that was absent from the relationship, and in order to close out the story, I needed to identify the traits of Aria that had not been developed well, as well as give a little insight not only into her past, but also why she is the way she is. I hope that this little in between the chapters story helps to fill in a few blanks and that the rather interesting hints gives a suggestion as to where the final few chapters are going.  
By this point tomorrow, the rest of 24 will be rewritten and I will be able to begin typing both chapters up over the weekend, then make a few final revisions to 25. After that, I'm giving them all a vacation and doing a shorter story concerning Rowan, Aria, Shii, Aura, and a little trip to the beach. It sure as hell won't be your normal beach episode... 


End file.
